Technology. Innovation. M&A. Japan.

We break into Japan’s technology markets with you and help you become profitable in Japan

Our customer A: “We want to acquire Japanese software companies!”

“We decided to enter the market by acquiring Japanese software companies. We need help to find suitable and interested companies, talk to them, need to have due diligence done, structure and close the acquisitions.”

Our customer B: “We are in business in Japan for 30 years and we want to finally break through and start growing!”

“We are No. 1 in our sector in almost all countries except in Japan. Our business in Japan should be 20 times bigger! We need to find out what is holding us back, and finally start to get onto a growth curve!”

“We are a fast growing VC backed venture, Japan is our most promising market, we need to start in Japan – how? We have decided to build our business in Japan. We must succeed in Japan and keep risks down!”

Our customer D: “We are global leader in many environmental technologies and want to start in Japan!”

“We are No. 1 in our home country, and we are preparing to build our environmental business in Japan.”

Our customer E: “I manage a large global investment portfolio”

“I need to understand consequences of technology inflections, mobile internet, solid state lighting on my portfolio, and I need analysis on a list of Japanese technology companies.”

Our customer F: “We are a fast growing and disruptive precision-medicine company, and seek a Japanese partner”

“Our fast growing precision-medicine is developing disruptive pharmaceutical products, and we need to build our business in Japan, the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market. We are need you to work with us to establish partnerships with suitable strategic partners, who also will invest in our venture.”

Our track record:

since our foundation in 1996/1997 we have worked on 100s of business development, M&A, market research and business building projects for Japanese, European and American companies

Solutions

We focus on telecommunications/IT/electronic components/software and energy.

Business development

Since 1987 we have worked on 100s of business development and market entry projects into Japan’s high-tech markets for foreign companies and we have worked on market entry to Europe for Japanese companies. Our business development work is based on

creating deep understanding of the market and the value of the products/services in the market

creating a suitable strategy

our wide and deep professional network of cooperations and contacts

Acquisitions, M&A and due diligence

We have worked on many investment, acquisition and due diligence projects. As example, we helped a European pharmaceutical company acquire a factory in Japan, we have advised many investment managers on technology inflections, and performed technology and business due-diligence on technology companies for investors seeking to invest or acquire.

Market research, strategy and implementation

Since 1997 we have worked on 100s of strategy projects in Tokyo for international technology companies seeking growth in Japan, and Japanese companies globalizing. We create strategy plans based on first creating a deep understanding of the underlying market and it dynamics. We believe that it is necessary to create a deep understanding of the market before creating strategies.

Corporate governance reforms in Japan Changing the way Japanese corporations are managed: Can it make Japanese iconic corporations great again? A talk by Gerhard Fasol at the Embassy of Sweden organized by the Embassy of Sweden, The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SCCJ), and the Stockholm School of Economics You need to know more …

On 18 July 2016 SoftBank announced to acquire ARM Holdings plc for £17 per share, corresponding to £24.0 billion (US$ 31.4 billion) SoftBank acquires ARM: acquisition completed on 5 September 2016, following 10 years of “unreciprocated love” for ARM On 18 July 2016 SoftBank announced a “Strategic Agreement”, that SoftBank plans to acquire ARM Holdings …

Pokemon Go is great – but will it bring another Nintendo boom as in 2009? or even exceed 2009? Google spin-out Niantic Labs’ augmented reality smartphone game booms to the top of charts Niantic Labs is specialized on augmented reality games. In a previous game, Ingress, players selected about 15 million memorable locations globally. Niantic …

Customers

We started in Tokyo in 1997, and have worked for 100s of customers, including large multinationals, venture start-ups and family owned mid-sized companies, investment funds and VCs, Government organizations (EU and the Finnish technology agency TEKES), in the following fields:

NTT Communications (we worked with NTT-Communications’ international M&A team on NTT’s strategy to enter Europe’s markets. We mapped Europe’s internet markets, created entrance strategies into about 15 different data-rich industry sectors, selected a number of potential companies as candidates for investment or acquisition, and prepared NTT’s negotiations with several potential European partner companies.

VIP briefings and brainstorming

From time to time we are invited to brief and brainstorm with Government officials and corporate officers of large corporations. Briefings include:

President of Germany, Horst Koehler. Our CEO, Gerhard Fasol, was invited as one of four experts to brief the President of Germany on Japan’s technology sector. Read the briefing here.

The Energy and National Resources Minister of Canada, Mr Joe Oliver. Gerhard Fasol was invited as one of 4-5 experts to brief and discuss Japan’s energy sector with the Energy Minister of Canada, Mr Joe Oliver.

Executive team of one of Europe’s largest telecom multi-national operators. Gerhard Fasol was invited to brief the top management (CEO, CFO, CTO, Chief of Strategy) of this large telecom operator, on Japan’s telecom sector, what can be learnt from Japan’s telecom sector, and brain storming about “what is the telecom operator of the future”.

Japan is the world’s second or third largest market depending on the sector, important competitor, and partner. With 125 million people it’s a large and important country.

15% of the world’s economy is in Japan
25% of the world’s high-tech products are made in Japan
10% of the world’s cars are made in Japan
30% of the world’s cars are made by Japanese brands
Japan’s mobile communications market is arguably the most advanced in the world.

Japan business: how to succeed? quick answer:

The first imperative is to understand common mistakes and avoid them, and not to fall into the same traps as similar companies have fallen into. To get you started read: